know from where we came to shape where we’re headed

In this New Year,

may we use the knowl­edge of

“from where we came”,

and the tools we have to shape

“where we are headed”…

to build a world of inclu­sion & peace for all.

The peo­ple who fash­ioned the James Webb Space Tele­scope have enabled us to peer into the deep­est past of the cos­mos, pre­sent­ing a rich­er under­stand­ing of our ori­gins. Mean­while, Michal Shomer, in Israel, has fash­ioned a font that enables us to read Hebrew in a mul­ti-gen­dered man­ner offer­ing us a chance to shape a rich­er, more inclu­sive future.

The image on this year’s card is an attempt to cap­ture some of the glo­ry of an ear­ly pho­to­graph from the tele­scope depict­ing a group of five galax­ies, two of which are in the process of merg­ing. It also uses the Mul­ti-Gen­der Hebrew font laid out on a möbius strip with the first phrase דַּע מֵאַיִן בָּאתָ dis­played as a mir­ror image so that the entire phrase reads con­tin­u­ous­ly for­ward and back:

I imag­ine our task as con­stant­ly look­ing back­ward and for­ward as each phrase leads into the other.

I printed many inked variants of the background image:

I first photographed the text on the möbius strip:

I flattened the image:

Drew it onto the linoleum (acually a rubbing, so the image would appear reversed):

Cut the block:

Ran a test print:

Printed on the background (with varying success):

And finally added the spot color of silver, as seen at the top.

Linoleum cut pro­duced by Mark, Sum­mer 2022
©Mark Hurvitz 2022

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